


Achromatic

by jupiterscallisto



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Based off of hollownest-whore's concept on tumblr, Ghost can talk since they're a shade because I said so, Ghost died when Hollow left them to fall, Ghost is Hollow's Ghost au, Ghost isn't a figment of Hollow's imagination, Hollow communicate's with Ghost via void telepathy ig idk, I mean he did commit infanticide, The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel Needs a Hug, The Knight is Called Ghost (Hollow Knight), The Pale King Being an Asshole (Hollow Knight), The Radiance Redemption, They/Them Pronouns for The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel, They/Them Pronouns for The Knight (Hollow Knight), This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, no beta we die like men, probably, so does Ghost
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29094690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jupiterscallisto/pseuds/jupiterscallisto
Summary: They climb towards the light now, the sibling behind them quick to follow. They need to make the final jump, and without looking back, they do. Their sibling is not so lucky.The King arrives to greet them, and beckons them to follow him. They notice the sibling behind them clinging to the edge, looking at them helplessly. They spare a quick glance towards them, but leave them there.'I'm sorry,' they think to themselves as they see their sibling's grip slowly loosen on the ledge. They quickly turn around, not wanting to see them fall, and keep up their pace towards the king.
Relationships: The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & The Knight
Comments: 27
Kudos: 96





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I wrote this at like 3am since I write best at that time, and I think I got a legitimate storyline for this fanfic suprisingly. I checked for mistakes, but if there is one don't be afraid to point it out. I'm almost done with the next chapter too, and I don't know if you'll see this hollownest-whore but thanks for the concept, you're super cool and I hope I can bring it justice

They climb towards the light now, the sibling quick to follow. They need to make the final jump, and so they do. Their sibling is not so lucky. The King arrives to greet them, and as the King beckons them to follow him, they notice the sibling clinging to the edge, looking at them helplessly. They spare a quick glance towards them, but leave them there.

'I'm sorry,' they think to themselves as they see their sibling's grip slowly loosen on the ledge. They quickly turn around, not wanting to see them fall, and keep up their pace towards the king.

* * *

The Pure Vessel. It had no mind. No will. No thoughts, dreams, hopes, nothing. Not even a voice. That’s what everyone had become to expect from it. Except their sibling’s shade that seemed to be permanently tethered to them and, of course, loved bothering them.

“Aren’t you bored just standing here?” Ghost asked them as the Pure Vessel went through their daily routine of guarding the halls to the King’s workshop. Their sibling’s shade hovered directly behind them, taking the resemblance of their shadow like always.

The Pure Vessel didn’t respond. They could always sense when Ghost was present, and found that it was best to ignore them when it was so early in the morning.

“Wow, thanks for the response, Sib.” They spoke in a light crisp voice, as to make sure that no one heard them, and made themself fully visible to the Pure Vessel. “Are we supposed to just stand here all day, guarding his stupid door?” Ghost glared directly at them now, no longer staying behind them. A few minutes passed of their sibling staring them down, refusing to not be acknowledged. Hollow, as Ghost called them, knew that they wouldn’t stop staring and bothering them until they responded.

‘Yes sibling. That _was_ my order.’ They reflected their thoughts back to Ghost, and they heard them sigh.

The Pure Vessel turned away from Ghost now. It had been a full year since the day where they left their sibling to fall, to become another empty shell within the void along with the rest of their siblings. Yet something happened when Ghost met their fall, and instead of their shade returning to the depths of the abyss, it had stayed binded to them. Guilt had eaten them up when they awoke after their first day at the white palace to see their sibling’s shade looking at them. They thought that they had been seeing things, that it must have been their culpability manifesting after letting your own sibling fall to their death. Yet their sibling was able to speak to them, and proved that they were in fact very real. After that, Hollow hadn’t dared to bring up how or why this was happening, nor the fact that Ghost was now a shade and hadn’t survived the fall. Ghost let in sly remarks here and there in a joking manner, which the Pure Vessel thought was a bit inappropriate to joke about one’s own death, but it seemed that both Hollow’s guilt and Ghost’s leftover hurt always left that as the great hopper in the room.

“Well, can you do something else? Why does he have you stand here anyways?” Their sibling asked, getting impatient.

‘Why are _you_ asking so many questions?’  
“Why aren’t _you_ answering them?”  
‘Because you’re annoying.’

“It’s not my fault I’m stuck with you.” The Pure Vessel almost said something to that. Almost. The whole conversation could have taken a turn if they had. But they said nothing in terms of it, and instead changed the subject before Ghost could notice the void within them churn at their sibling’s words.

‘To defend him in case he gets attacked perhaps.’  
“Huh?”  
‘I just answered one of your _many_ questions.’ Now it was Hollow’s turn to sigh lightly.

“Well it’s not like anyone’s gonna be skipping down the hall all gleeful in the palace to go assassinate him.” They wanted to let out a small laugh at that, but that would be improper, and would end up encouraging their sibling.

As soon as they were about to respond back to their sibling with a quip, a retainer began walking through the halls near them, and Hollow, or rather the Pure Vessel, went back to their rigid and stiff position for guarding the King's workshop while Ghost quickly hid and took their place as playing Hollow's shadow.

“Excuse me Vessel. Please allow me to approach our King; a letter has arrived for him from the Archivist.”

The vessel stepped aside, their shadow/sibling following in suit, and the retainer knocked lightly on the King’s door. A minute or so passed and Hollow noticed Ghost twitch, but before they could be seen scowling at their own shadow, the Pale King opened his door and walked out. The retainer backed up a bit due to the King’s pale light, and then carefully handed him the letter while bowing.

“A letter from Monomon the Teacher, your majesty.” The Pale King’s servant said. He took it from the servant’s hands before simply nodding to her. She then dismissed herself, and walked away, rubbing her eyes a bit. The king opened the letter there instead of retreating into his workshop like he always did, so the Vessel stayed still as ever, staring at him awaiting orders. Ghost flickered again, this time on accident due to being understimulated, and Hollow’s eyes darted from their shadow back to the King.

‘Please be still, sibling.’ The Pure Vessel echoed their thoughts to Ghost, and they could have sworn that their shadow/sibling seemed to go completely still, only moving slightly when Hollow themselves did.

“Hmm. It seems Monomon wants to study you.” The king addressed them personally. The vessel only stared and showed no signs of acknowledgement. He hummed thoughtfully after observing them quickly. “I see no reason to. I know that you are hollowed out due to the infusement of void, but maybe her inspection is for a different cause. I suppose I will agree to her proposal and allow her to stop by the palace tomorrow then.”

The Pale King then nodded, musing a bit while rereading the letter, then escaped back to his solitude within his workshop.

Hollow let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding, and Ghost tentatively got out from being Hollow’s shadow and looked at them, a puzzled look on their otherwise expressionless face.

“What does the archivist want with us?”

‘You heard what he said.’ They responded with, looking through the halls quickly as to make sure that no one else was going to walk in on them.

“Yeah, and he didn’t even know.” Their sibling left it at that, and the Pure Vessel simply did a small shrug. The vessel would never dare be expressive to anyone besides their sibling, unless they wanted to commit to the chance of being thrown back into the abyss and becoming a shade like the very sibling next to them.

‘We will see tomorrow, Ghost.’

The sibling nodded to them, content with their response (for now), and let out a yawn.  
‘Tired?’

“Now look who’s asking too many questions…” Ghost remarked, and yawned again before taking their place as Hollow’s shadow, beginning to drift to sleep in that state.

‘I find it weird that you can sleep.’

“Yeah, I guess it is sorta weird, considering I’m dead and all…” and with that last jest, Ghost fell asleep and left Hollow alone with their mind, going over the words that their sibling had just said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out @hollownest-whore on tumblr! They're a very respectable hk blog :) and their art is really good


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pure Vessel meets with Monomon as ordered to, and Ghost, as always, is forced to tag along as Hollow's shadow wherever they go. Monomon strikes up a view the Pale King never thought about looking through, and our boy Quirrel makes an appearance. Chaos is still yet to ensure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I listened to babooshka but with more guitar while writing this. Also, I think the format of this chapter might be a bit weird, I'm not sure.

Next morning came as it always did, and they awoke to Ghost already up, looking through the rather large window in their room. Hollow pulled the covers up from where they laid in their nest and got up and stretched, catching the attention of their sibling.

“Good morning sibling. Monomon is supposed to stop by, right?” Ghost said, continuing to stare out the window. The view to their window led to the Queen’s garden, though the retainers around would always say that the garden that the lady had by the palace was nothing compared to the one that she held near a place called Greenpath. Hollow wondered about what it would look like then, since whenever they passed the one here it would always be the most colorful thing within the whole basin. Surely something like that couldn’t have something more beautiful than it? They assumed that Ghost would agree with them on that, considering that whenever their sibling woke up earlier than them they would always be found looking through the window and peering at the garden.

Hollow quickly flushed those thoughts away though, since they were not supposed to have them in the first place.

‘Yes sibling.’ The Pure Vessel now got ready, putting on their attire for the day. Ghost turned around now, tilting their head to the side while looking at their sibling.

“Aren’t you… I don’t know, nervous?” 

‘Why, what is the worst that could happen?’ They said, playing dumb as to get a rise out of their sibling.

“Oh, well, I don’t know; maybe just the Archivist finding out you’re not actually hollow, or maybe discovering that I’m tethered to you and that you’re stuck with the ghost of one of your previous dead _siblings_ , or even-”

‘Alright, alright, I get it sibling. I know there’s a lot to worry about. But there’s nothing we can do to prevent our meeting with her, so just behave.”

This wasn’t their first time meeting the dreamers of course; they had met them on three different occasions before. A week after they first came out of the abyss, all the dreamers had prompted the King that they meet with the one who was claimed the Pure Vessel, since they were the one who they were meant to one day seal by sleeping for all eternity. The King found no reason to not introduce all of them to the Vessel, so the next day after that they had all presented themselves to Vessel. 

They didn’t have a specific reaction with Lurien. They learned that he liked to paint, and spent his time watching over the Capitol of Hallownest, and never talked unless he was being encouraged to. Herrah was a confident and somewhat abrasive woman, as a Queen of Deepnest should be, but you could tell she had a heavy heart and a good mind by the way she carried herself. Monomon was a naturally ecstatic person, always bubbly whenever it came to her work. She would always go on about how “your only limit is your mind,” and so on. Her assistant would often accompany her at times and usually never got a word in, seeming to simply be content at just being at the lady’s side.

They heard a gasp from Ghost, and quickly shifted their stare from the nail in their hands to their siblings

‘What is it?’

“The Archivist is already here, along with her assistant! I can see them in the garden with the White Lady and the King-”

‘Are you serious?’ Hollow hurried near their sibling’s side, pushing the shade a bit to get a better look out the window. ‘Oh, you were.’

“Does that mean we should leave now, or should we wait for one of the servants to call you down there?”

Footsteps could be heard echoing down the hallway near their chambers. The Vessel went stiff then scowled at Ghost while pointing behind them before grabbing their nail. Their sibling sighed quietly as they retreated as Hollow’s shadow, muttering something about how they always had to tag along, even to boring things.

A knock on their door could be heard through their room, and about three seconds passed before it was finally opened. A retainer came in, dressed in the usual uniform that all the servant’s had to wear, and cleared his throat.

“Hollow Vessel, your presence is required within the main room with Madame Monomon and her assistant. Our King orders you to follow me there.” The retainer then began to walk out of the room, naturally expecting them to follow him.

The Pure Vessel walked behind their escort, noticing their shadow go unsteady for a bit. Instead of talking aloud, Ghost talked within their mind, speaking in a whisper.

_‘I hope something eventful happens.’_

‘Well I don’t.’ Hollow softly responded back, mirroring their thoughts back to Ghost.

_‘Want to see what kind of trouble we can get into?’_

‘No sibling. Behave.’

_‘I’m not a child, stop telling me to behave.’_

‘Well, you _are_ technically younger than me.’

_‘I hatched a couple hours after you, that doesn’t count!’_

‘You didn’t just hatch a couple hours after me, you were one of the last ones to hatch, if not the last one itself.’

_‘...’_

‘Exactly.’

_‘Ok but-!’_

‘Shhh, we’ve arrived.’

The Pale King and The Archivist sat together at a table in the back of the immense room, discussing Monomon’s recent findings with the infection and the King listening intently across from her as her assistant sat near. A kingsmould stood guard near the doors of the room, and big glass windows substituted as the right wall, showing off the White Lady’s garden. The Pale King then noticed both the retainer and the Vessel, and the retainer bowed while the Vessel stood still. They were not allowed to do things without being ordered to.

“Servant, you are dismissed.”

The retainer did as told and left, Monomon continuing with what she was saying previously.

“As I was saying, some of those findings have been called into question actually, because our studies had small sample sizes or problematic experimental designs. Still, there are a handful of key signs we noticed — including an orange fog appearing around the victims, complaints of chronic pain, and severe anxiety — in which the well-designed, well-run studies have shown apparent.” Madame Monomon then brought up various pieces of paperwork and reports that she had brought with her. Her assistant, who they learned had a name by Monomon muttering it, (“Quirrel” as he was called) agreed with her and brought up the prompt at hand as to why the Pure Vessel was asked here.

"What my lady is trying to get at, my king, is that she would like to see if the effects of those who were starting to get infected are still present within the vessel."

_"How are they going to do that?"_ Ghost question.

"And how are you going to do that?" The king asked.

_"...I have just successfully proven that the phrase "great minds think alike" is to be false."_

'Shhh!'

_"I'm just saying..."_

The Pale King finished his thought. "We've already proven that void creatures, even those who were of God and Void," he eyed the Pure Vessel, “are immune to the contagiousness of the infection unlike the common bug. They cannot be consumed by the plague via interacting with it, so how will this experiment go about, and what will it exactly prove?”

The Archivist did what looked to be a smile, though Hollow wasn’t sure since she was wearing a mask, and grabbed a small flask-like container that they hadn’t noticed Monomon have before.

“Well you see,” She began, showing off the container on the table, the Pale King eyeing it, “This flask holds in it what is, technically, a genetically modified sample version of the orange liquid that those with the plague start to ooze out. It currently does not contain the same acidic properties as the infection does. The way the infection starts is through dreams, correct? So if the Vessel is truly hollow, then they should not be affected by it since they have no will nor dreams.”

“I already went over that? With my personal past experiments I have proven that through the same way. I am failing to see what you are getting at, Archivist.”

Madame Monomon then looked at Quirrel, seemingly expecting him to finish her speech and answer the king. He looked at her, then back at the Pale King and cleared his throat.

“Yes, as the lady said that would be true, of course, but as we have seen with the Mantis Tribe, those who have strong wills and strong minds are able to keep away from the infection, and keep a deterrent effect from dreaming. Unless they were to willingly lead the infection into their mind, there would be no other way to let Her hold any effect over them.”

The Pale King nodded sagely then, and the Pure Vessel was starting to put together the pieces of what the Archivist’s assistant was saying. The void in them stirred in worry, and this time Ghost felt it too.

“I see now. So if the vessel is affected by the sample you have, then they are not hollowed out. If they aren’t affected by the sample, then there’s still a chance that they aren’t hollowed out, due to the fact that they could just have a strong will and mind. That’s… an intriguing thought, to say the least. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

 _‘...Are you_ sure _I can’t punch him in the face?’_

‘Yes.’

_‘What if I just break his face just a little?’_

‘...No.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter the POV will change to someone else, though I'm not sure who. You guys can leave suggestions in the comments if you want, and thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost branches out with an idea, and everyone's favorite sun-deity moth has a moment of inner monologue in her palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time I think of the conflict between the Pale King and the Radiance, I always think of the phrase "until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter." In other words, are there any Radiance redemption fics?

The Hollow Vessel now stood in an all grey room, Lady Monomon standing in front of them with the container in hand. Quirrel stood next to her with what looked to be a solemn expression, staring at the Pure Vessel.

They were stuck in a hard place, they knew that. It seemed whichever ever outcome they provided, it only ended in a lose-lose. Ghost was still there resting as Hollow’s shadow, quiet as ever, which was strange now that they thought about it. Keeping their poise posture physically, they spoke to their sibling.

‘You are remarkably well-behaved right now. What are you up to?’ Hollow asked them, continuing to stand still as they waited for Monomon to get everything set up for her experiment with them.

_‘I have an idea.’_

'Oh no.'

_‘I swear it’s a good one this time!’_

The vessel would have let out a silent laugh if they were in any other circumstances. Right now, they were… _nervous_ , to say the least. ‘...Well? What is it then?’

* * *

Traces of glowing luminosity crawled through the cracks of her castle made of essence and daylight. Her realm was quiet, too quiet, as the plague she had placed began to only spread more and more as time went on. She saw the worm struggle and mourn, but she couldn’t find it within herself to care.

She has been there since the start of the world itself. She was a star, of course, yet her purpose was far greater than that, for she had the abilities of light, dreams, and creation. She brought dreams to the bugs, and gave them light in the otherwise dark world. From her light, she had made the Moths, who would worship her till days end. She had thought of them as her children, and promised to keep them safe from her ancient enemy, the Void. 

The Void's only way of going about as not just a higher being, but as the _highest_ being, had been through consuming. It defied time and reality itself, and therefore needed no followers, and never needed to be held down by remembrance. All it needed to do was consume and even the smallest amounts would keep it fed for eternities. When she had been born into the world, it had tried to consume her light. So she had made a truce with it.

“I will make a deal with you, Void.” She had said to it, all that time ago. “I will leave you be, and let you feast on whatever you please from the surface. In turn, I ask that you harbor no ill will towards me, and make me the promise that you will not harm my children that I have created.”

 _‘Hmm.’_ She remembers the Void’s response like it was yesterday. ‘ _We will allow you and your people to live, Sun.’_ That was the name it had given her. Sun. It was an abnormal name, for she had never heard of a mortal named Sun. She supposed she liked it. It was…special?

_‘Yet let us warn you, Sun, everything must come to an end. There is a reason I do not rely on the civilization that worships me. Nothing lasts forever.’_

She had not known what the Void had meant at that time, so she simply agreed and left the darkness to be. She now understood how wise the Void really was. The darkness truly was timeless, and had cautioned her. She was foolish to not listen. 

A god is only as powerful as their last performance with the mortals, her brother would say. The only way to get rid of a god was to either make them completely forgotten, left astray with nothing to feast on from mortals, or kill them at hand with the polar of what they were made with. And that is exactly what the worm had planned to do with her. 

The worm had the _audacity_ to bring her once ancient enemy, the Void, into the war between them. The Radiance was strong, and refused to die out as quick as a flame to water. The worm knew that if he couldn’t make her be forgotten and starve her from her people, then he would have to resort to the light’s opposite. The Void.

He had thrown his own children into the Void, sacrificing their lives as though they were meaningless. If taking her children from her wasn’t enough, he then decided to kill his own off, just to spite her and combat the infection she had made.

The infection. That’s when the war between them really started. When the Radiance tried to be remembered again after being almost entirely forgotten, she had ended up causing the Infection, creating a more intensive and extreme hive mind of hers. She had stripped the bugs of Hallownest from the sapience the worm had granted them. 

Now from her throne she stood, observing through the hive mind as another mortal got infected with her plague, and noticed how that bug would be another statistic the worm would be met with when looking at the infection rates of his kingdom.

Countless bugs she had taken their minds from. Countless people, maybe with their own children. If she was being honest with herself, it had not meant to be taken this far. She had only wanted the worm to know what she had felt like, the hurt, the pain, and the grief she had felt when realizing that her people, her own _children,_ had just left her. As though she meant nothing to them. She had shaped the world for them, and granted them shards of her power, giving them the access to dreams as she did. Now that she thought about it, she would have to say that she loved them. 

Would the worm ever love her people as she did? Would he be willing to seek vengeance if someone had done what he had did to her? What did he expect her to do? Didn’t he realize what he had done, what he was _continuing_ to do to her?

She moved from her throne and looked around at the mess the worm had made for her. Her castle, once grand and magnificent, now left in shambles, with cracks and scars everywhere she looked. Memories flooded through her mind as she recalled the times where there had been two thrones within the castle, side by side. The times where her brother and her shared the dream realm, moths buzzing through the domain in and out, thankful for the gift that she had given them. Now there was simply nothing, except her.

The worm had promised her children an eternal kingdom, but as the words of the Void itself, nothing lasted forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this has ended up becoming it's own legitimate story with a plot line and everything, and will now most likely have more chapters. I also realize that the Radiance is my new favorite character to write. As always, thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The point of view starts off with Monomon, and her dealing with the rumors that are spreading around the white palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the hiatus, oops. I got busy from school, but I'm good now. There's probably gonna be a weekly update schedule now though so I don't end up forgetting about this, since I really wanna finish this.

Lady Monomon was excited, to say the least. 

When the Pale King had told her that he had created a perfect vessel, hollowed out of a mind, will, and voice, she had her doubts. All the dreamers did, but she decided to trust him on the matter, if for a while. Yet after hearing the gossip around the palace amongst the retainers, she was definitely intrigued as to if that statement was true or not.

A few weeks ago she had come to the palace to drop off some documents, as well as the rising infection rate reports from both the Capitol and Fog Canyon. Lurien had asked her the favor of dropping off his daily report for him, and she had agreed, for she knew how skittish the watcher could get when around the king. 

After some hours had passed, she finished her duties in the White Palace and bid the King and the council a good day. Quirrel would be feeding Uumuu right about now, she mused to herself. She started making her way towards the entrance of the palace and down the rather many flights of stairs, getting lost in her thoughts. Monomon had stopped in her tracks after overhearing the hushed whispers amidst the retainers down the hall though.

“My, Tahlia, have you heard of the strange voice that was heard in the Vessel’s chambers? Everyone has been talking about it.”

“Oi, keep your voice down Hywel!” 

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just that, well, it’s strange! The vessel was said to not be able to speak, correct? So who exactly was the one speaking?”

“It’s none of our business. You never know, maybe someone else was in the room.”

Monomon was quick to draw the same conclusion, yet the one named Hywel spoke again.

“It was after hours, Tahlia. I highly doubt that someone decided to have a one-on-one with the vessel, especially since the king has strict orders to leave it rest when the day is done with. Who would go need to talk to it anyways, with it being supposedly hollow?”

Those were some good points indeed. Hiding behind a pillar and away from the two, she continued to eavesdrop.

“Well who was the one who supposedly heard the voice in the vessel’s room anyhow? Sure they weren’t just lying? Hywel, you know how some of the others are, eager to spill gossip and create rumors for the sake of attention.”

“That’s what I thought, but both Acacia _and_ Shini were the ones who heard it when they were on their way to the upstairs larder. They wouldn’t make something like that up. And others have recalled hearing something similar to a voice in it’s chambers too.” Monomon listened in further, creating speculations. The king had said the vessel was biologically incapable of speaking, so hearing a voice within the Hollow Knight’s room that couldn’t, that _shouldn’t_ , belong to the vessel was unimaginable. At least that’s what it seemed.

Once she was back in her Archive, she went over whether or not she would inform Quirrel and the others. Having the intel that the supposed future of Hallownest the king had made might not be able to even _be_ the future was a heavy burden, and she herself wasn’t sure if it was true. Monomon decided to keep it to herself; she would have her answers one way or another, there was no need to spread what was considered rumors now. Further inspection of the vessel wouldn’t do harm anyways, so there’d be no reason for the king to fret over it. After all, there is no such thing as a failed experiment. Only experiments with unexpected outcomes.

Now that she thought about it, to say she was excited was an understatement. She was thrilled. The outcome of her experimentation with the vessel would only provide ways to combat the infection, and would lead them with more information on how to beat it, as well as potentially defeat the moth goddess once and for all. The enthusiasm she had was not shared with the king though, for she couldn’t help but notice his discontentment. Was there something he knew that she didn’t?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it wasn't clear for some people, the one who the retainers heard talking wasn't the pure vessel, it was actually just them overhearing Ghost talking to Hollow(since Ghost can be heard out loud speaking when they're not playing shadow). This chapter is much shorter for the others since I wanted to get Monomon's pov out of the way, but the next one will be much longer. Sorry for the confusion if there was any, and if you're still reading this then thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hollow gets induced into a dream, and Ghost has a one-on-one with the moth goddess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who reads this for your continued support! We're now back to Ghost's and Hollow's povs, this time separate since they're not together.

The light was blinding. The way the teacher and her assistant had described it was not even close to how it actually _felt_. To have compared the raging heat wave of fierce sunlight to fire was insulting, and the more they noticed their mind become foggy, the more intense it got. It was like they were stuck in a trance, with nothing to grasp themselves onto. The more they struggled, the quicker their memory seemed to fade, and they couldn’t help but have the devastating feeling that something was terribly wrong.

Everything was hot, too hot. Definitely not like the way the burning of a flame was when touched, more so as in the sudden radiation of sunburst on an otherwise cloudy day. Was this what they called dreaming? Had it always felt like this, so overwhelming and painful?

The burning stopped for a second, and they wanted to let out a sharp cry, yet their lack of a mouth stopped them. They felt as though they had fallen and hit the ground, _hard_ , and landed on cold concrete. Their limbs felt entangled, and they could have sworn that they had never felt so exposed and vulnerable; less in a physical aspect, but more so emotionally.

Suddenly, a knock on their door woke them.

“Your highness, it is time to get ready for breakfast with your parents.”

What?

“Are you awake, your highness?” 

The cloudiness in their mind stopped, and everything slowly became clear. They were awake, yes. Discontent, sure, but they were awake. Hollow moved their limbs around, and finally opened their eyes. They were in a bed, pillows scattered around, inside an all white room with a large window in it. The servant at the door knocked again, less loud than the first time.

“Please be ready in a few minutes, my prime. The king and queen are expecting you at the banquet.”

They would have groaned if they had the voice to. Hollow got off their nest and stood, making a noticeable amount of movement the retainer would hear to show that they were up, and waited for them to stop knocking on their door and leave. As soon as they heard the servant’s feet shuffle away from their room, they looked around.

Their nail hung on their wall next to a banner with the kingdom’s crest on it. Little trinkets and notepads were scattered on top of a desk, and a shelf with even more knickknacks and books stood alongside a wall. Their room didn’t seem to have one inch of it that was left empty. Yet something felt like it was missing, like this wasn’t supposed to be.

Hollow got ready, wearing their usual attire for the day as always, and spared a glance at their window. Mother’s gardens were always beautiful. A lot of people would agree with them on that, especially their...

What were they doing again? Right, they were getting ready for their morning breakfast. They took one last look through their room, then began making their way to the dining room to eat with their family. Like they always did.

* * *

“...And who are you?” 

A loud voice questioned, the voice itself resonating through their void and nearly shaking their core. Ghost opened their eyes to look at who had spoken, then quickly closed them.

“Ugh, why is it so bright here?” They replied back hastily, their void shrieking away from the abrupt glow of light on sudden instinct.

Golden shimmering clouds surrounded Ghost in the holy mindscape, and light shone in every crook and crevasse that was able to be present. They could already guess who this realm belonged to without having to look up at the goddess before them.

In all honesty, they hadn't expected this plan to actually work. They knew Hollow would end up succumbing to the infectious dreams, yet whether they would be able to fight it off was up for debate. Whether or not Ghost would be affected too since they were stuck to Hollow was also too much of a close call to make. Though it seemed now that they’re close call was a bit too close.

“Are you going to answer my question that I asked you?” The moth made of daylight echoed out, ignoring Ghost’s jest at the brightness of the dream realm. Ghost, naturally, felt out of place. They had only ever heard of a bright domain like this being described amongst the whispers of the councilmen whenever their sibling was meant to attend a meeting with the king, as to only stand by his side as a knight. It felt eerie now, having to see the place spoken in hushed tones in person. Not to mention the fact that they were literally made of darkness.

Coming to the realization that they were actually talking to the plague-bringer of Hallownest herself, they were suddenly at a loss for words. Ghost said nothing, the void inside them yelling to get out of this empire of dreams and attempt to help their sibling in a different way. 

She must have been easily able to get a read on them as she shone her wings towards them in an assertion of dominance. She closed in on them now, showing no signs of letting Ghost escape, and simply analyzed their movements.

“You are being of wyrm and root, infused with void. At least you once were...?” The Goddess looked at the shade, confusion slowly becoming present on her face, yet nonetheless keeping her confidence. “You are only of void now. Why are you here then, child?”

A burst of confidence hit Ghost like a spike from a flying aspid, and they spoke quickly, if not eagerly. 

“You have my sibling.” They looked straight at her now, attempting to ignore her bright light. They came here to help their sibling, not to be a coward and run off. “You’re the moth goddess my father hates, right?”

“...You’re _father_?”

Ghost hadn’t meant to be so blunt.

“Well, I use the term loosely, but yes.”

A moment passed between the two as they sat there in their own silence, an awkward instant being shared before a minute passed.

“I see.” She said simply. As though sensing no harm, she lowered her wings and merely rested at eye level with them, or at least tried to. The size difference between the two was very much apparent. “I was right. You are one of his creations then, that were thrown into the abyss as I presumed.”

“How do you know that?” They said hesitantly. They shouldn’t be speaking to her, the Radiance. They knew about the atrocities she had done.

“I know an abundance of things about the past, long before you were even thought of. Old history, of times when the universe could be filled by a single word, a tear, a dream.”

They paused for a moment.

“Then...you know of my siblings and the rest of his creations. You know of the void. You know what happened.”

“Of course I do. Dreams talk. I spoke to the void itself when it was once unified, before your creator had decided to intervene.”

“No, what I’m trying to ask is…do you know what he did to them? You know how he...what he did to his creations then.”

 _‘-to my siblings.’_ They wanted to say.

The goddess went silent. Ghost took a moment to gather themselves. Unease began to settle in their void, and they wondered what Hollow was feeling right now.

How could she sit here and speak so easily to them? Like they themselves weren’t once made for the soul purpose of consuming her light and one day killing her. Like she herself hadn’t once pledged to destroy everything and everyone within Hallownest, all just to spite the king. She talked to them as though she wasn’t the reason their father resorted to killing millions of their siblings, as though Ghost wasn’t being forced to coerce with her just so they could get their sibling back. She spoke as if she hadn’t impacted destiny itself.

“Do you regret anything you’ve done?” Ghost shouldn’t have said that. They wished they didn’t. Hollow would have scolded them if they were here.

The Radiance looked at them, her orange eyes looking straight into their void ones, and they could hear her breathe in heavily. She then shifted her eyes, as if in deep thought, then sighed.

“How could I not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are a pleasure to read and are appreciated as always, and thanks for reading!


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